Boys teams ready for sectional hoops, more in Wayne County high school sports

RICHMOND, Ind. — High school’s take on March Madness has arrived. Boys basketball sectionals start this week, and all six Wayne County schools are ready to go.

Northeastern finished the regular season with the best record in the area (17-5), and it will take on Shenandoah — who has ended the Knights’ season the last three years — in the first round March 1.

After the conclusion of that game, Hagerstown will play Knightstown, who beat the Tigers by just five points in mid-February. Hagerstown finished the regular season 6-17 and will host four of the six county teams.

Lincoln and Centerville will clash for the second time in six days March 2 for the late game at Hagerstown. The Golden Eagles beat the Bulldogs 63-42 last week. Lincoln ended the regular season with a record of 7-12, and Centerville currently sits at 0-21.

Seton (15-8) will play the late game against Randolph Southern at Blue River Valley March 1. These two teams faced off in late January, and the Vikings came away with a 78-66 win.

Richmond (10-14) was the only area team to draw a first-round bye into the semifinals. The Red Devils will play March 4 against the winner of Muncie Central and New Palestine, two teams Richmond has defeated this season.

Here’s more on how each boys team performed last week along with other results in Wayne County high school sports from Feb. 21-27:

Boys basketball

Northeastern, Lincoln, Richmond end season on good note

The Knights began their week Tuesday with a tough test at Class 3A Connersville, and they fell to the Spartans 47-36. Senior Raedhyn Foust led the team with 16 points. Fellow senior Payton Lumpkin added nine points and seven rebounds.

Northeastern had a lot more to celebrate Saturday, honoring its seniors, defeating Union City 79-32 and claiming the outright Tri-Eastern Conference title. Foust scored a career-high 33 points, going 14-for-15 from the field. Lumpkin recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, and junior Carson Terrell also had 10 points.

'We're the champions': Northeastern claims another TEC title on senior night

The Golden Eagles also started the week with a loss, 69-59 to Union County Monday. Junior Tyler Wyles paced the team with 21 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Aiden Munchel had 11 points and seven boards, and senior Alex Bertsch scored 10 points and dished out five assists.

They followed that performance with a 63-42 victory over Centerville. Wyles led the way again with 24 points, junior Logan Vance added 15 and Bertsch had 14.

The Red Devils only had one game last week, and they came away victorious, 52-47 over Franklin County Thursday. Senior Stephan Douglas had a big game with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman Mason Carpenter was a step behind him with 13 points and eight boards. Junior Gunner Kovach had 10 points, and senior Chase Newton added another eight.

Centerville, Hagerstown fall in final games

In the Bulldogs’ loss to Lincoln, junior Carter Heaston was the go-to scorer with 13 points, and freshman Chase Clark had seven. Before that game, Centerville took on Blackford Tuesday and lost 59-23.

The Tigers also added two more losses to their record. First was a 61-36 loss to Tri Tuesday. Senior Kadence Roman scored a team-high 13 points, and senior Gabe Warvel and junior Mason Romack each dropped eight. On Friday, Hagerstown fell 71-44 on the road against Eastern Hancock.

More: Hagerstown shooting inconsistencies continue through senior night excitement

Girls basketball

All-Conference teams were announced last week, and a handful of Wayne County players made the lists.

North Central Conference

Jayci Allen (Senior) — Richmond — First Team

Jakaia Lotz (Senior) — Richmond — Second Team

Earlier: Jakaia Lotz, Jayci Allen reflect on their impact on Richmond basketball after senior night

Tri-Eastern Conference

Ava Mikesell (Freshman) — Northeastern — All-Conference

Addisen Mastriano (Sophomore) — Northeastern — All-Conference

Maddie Ward (Senior) — Hagerstown — All-Conference

Jaedyn Marshall (Senior) — Centerville — All-Conference

Mallory Burns (Junior) — Lincoln — All-Conference

Anna Drake (Senior) — Northeastern — Honorable Mention

Grace Klein (Senior) — Hagerstown — Honorable Mention

Gabby Duke (Junior) — Centerville — Honorable Mention

Alivia Anderson (Sophomore) — Lincoln — Honorable Mention

Wrestling

Centerville, Northeastern and Hagerstown competed in the Class 1A/2A Individual State Championships Sunday in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

The Bulldogs placed second overall out of 49 teams with a score of 180 points. Devin Frazier, Leo Calderon and Sebastian Collins all won their respective weight class. Bryson Hale finished fourth, Oshea Phillips was fifth and Nathan Westover was sixth.

The Knights tied for 17th as a team with 65.5 points. Heather Crull won her weight class, and Jackson Ramsey finished as a runner-up.

Finally, the Tigers placed 32nd with 30 team points. Chase Sutherland seventh in his weight class.

Swim and dive

Three county divers and one swimmer were still chugging along last week, but they each saw their season come to an end.

Diving regionals took place Tuesday at Brownsburg. Richmond’s Lorenzo Nicoli finished the day 11th with 311.55 points, just three spots away from qualifying for state. Hagerstown’s Logan Roseberry was 15th (194.55), and Richmond’s Jaxin Bohn was 17th (180.70).

Richmond’s Cayden Lindahl was the only area athlete in the pool Friday in Indianapolis for the state prelims. He swam the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.48, good for 30th overall, but not quite good enough to advance to the state finals.

Gymnastics

Richmond claims 5th sectional, Liz Ruger wins everything again

The Red Devils recorded a program-record team score of 110.15 during Saturday’s sectional competition to put themselves atop the podium for their fifth consecutive sectional title.

Just like she did last week, Liz Ruger won every event to total a season-best all-around score of 38.025. She scored a 9.6 on both balance beam and uneven bars, a 9.45 on floor exercise and a 9.375 on vault.

Kinsey Bosell stood one step below Ruger for most of the competition. She finished second in the all-around with a score of 36.275. She was also second on beam (9.425), floor (9.35) and bars (8.6). She placed fifth on vault with a score of 8.9.

Ella Rader placed fourth overall with a total score of 35.575. She was third on both floor (9.225) and beam (9.15) and fourth on bars (8.5).

Aubrey Uhte rounded out Richmond’s performance with a fourth-place finish on vault (8.975).

Zach Piatt reports on sports and education for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Boys teams ready for IHSAA sectional basketball: Wayne County sports